from the boggling-profit-potential dept.
In a Morningstar.com item on Yahoo Finance, biotech expert Cynthia Robbins-Roth advises on investing in her sector: "I think that the big excitement will be in two key areas…The second arena of incredible opportunity lies in the so-far untested uses of biotech to create devices that don't yet exist. Nanotechnology, driven by a molecular understanding of how our cells work in sickness and in health, can lead to the creation of new approaches to cell engineering and transplantation. For example, the only real cure for diabetes will require the creation of a device that acts just like a real pancreas, one that would need to respond on a second-by-second basis to changes in blood sugar levels. Imagine an engineered pancreas that sits in the body and responds continually." Yes, and hurry it up please, 'cause some of us need one now. (Or a heart, intact spinal cord, etc.)

from the hey-flyboys-wake-up-and-smell-the-molecules dept.
Space.com's Leonard David writes on Yahoo News of NASA's advice: "There is a global wake-up call ringing loudly for spacefaring nations. The aerospace industry faces a major overhaul if promising commercial space markets are to be realized in coming years…But after four decades of development, is the promise of a booming commercial space sector more high hope than profitable, bottom-line marketplace?…The key to the space future, [NASA Administrator] Goldin emphasized, is in aerospace companies that embrace biology, nanotechnology and information systems." As a first step, we suggest they read up on work by Tom McKendree, currently at Raytheon.

from the but-how-much-does-it-cost? dept.
We also need a review of this: Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) from Chemical Computing Group: "a software system designed for molecular computing, integrates visualization, model building, simulation, and analysis of molecular structures." Available for Red Hat Linux 6.0. The same license also includes various Windows and other UNIX versions. "MOE comes with source code for customization…MOE is platform independent." And: "The Molecule Builder has been enhanced to include all the Edit menu commands for modifying atom properties and geometries (bond lengths, angles and torsions). Chirality and E/Z inversion has been added as well as the ability to name atoms A0, A1, etc. for combinatorial chemistry applications. Atoms can be bonded, unbonded and deleted from the Builder panel." Sounds expensive; if it's worth the time maybe Foresight can arrange a group discount. Any interest?

from the where-angels-fear-to-tread dept.
We need a review of the experimental HyperCube Compute Server. It is a free web-based service offering computational chemistry: "You go to the compute page to draw your molecule and select the type of calculation you want to perform. At this stage we are offering two type of calculations. The first shows the molecular orbitals calculated using the 3D structure created by HyperChem's modelbuilder. The second shows the optimized structure and infra-red spectra of your drawn molecule. Both of these calculations are performed using the PM3 semi-empirical method." Caveat: it is highly Microsoft-oriented, and not open source.

from the when-reliability-means-life-or-death dept.
Found on slashdot: The British Medical Journal has endorsed open source software. Excerpt: "It is reliable and secure: source code can be inspected for bugs and security flaws before it is compiled for use. It can be maintained even if the developers who originally produced the software are no longer available…Free software concepts make particular sense in medicine: although peer review has its problems, medical knowledge is becoming more open, not less, and the idea of locking it up in proprietary systems is untenable…The European Union has already embraced open source: its fifth framework programme (which will fund 3.6bn Euros of research and development over the next 5-10 years) places a strong emphasis on projects which will yield open source software as one of the outputs. Next week the NHS Information Authority hosts a seminar to consider the implications of the free software movement for its future strategy."

from the can-they-really-trademark-"Bucky"? dept.
Bryan Hall writes "A recent press release from Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc. discusses an advancement in the commercialization of carbon nanotechnology… “With the formation of CNI, we are seeding a new industry based on carbon,'' said Dr. Smalley. “Carbon is the most versatile of all elements. It is the very basis for life. Now we have a unique new form of carbon that has the potential to propel the 21st century in some fundamentally new directions. We are looking at a whole new field of chemistry with spectacular properties that can unlock a new future for a wide variety of industries.'' Read More for the full post.

from the new-art-form-or-stunt? dept.
John Doe brings our attention to an Oct. 20 report in Nature Science Update on a new use of optical tweezers by chemist George Whitesides et al: "Harvard scientists have made tiny sculptures from cells, pieced together one by one like building bricks. This technique is not simply an exercise in micro-aesthetics: it could one day be used to make biological sensors, or even replacement organs." CP: Work by George Whitesides just keeps showing up all over the place — Harvard's PR dept must be working hard.

from the why-can't-SciAm-do-as-well-as-this dept.
Josh Wolfe, Managing Partner, Lux Capital reports that "USA Today's Life section included a broad mainstream overview of nanotechnology"…"Suddenly, nanotechnology is a concept with buzz. Like 'atomic' in the 1950s, nanotech is loaded with almost unimaginable promise and fear. It's also burdened by misunderstanding." It mentions the usual suspects (Zyvex, Bill Joy — "Says IBM's Theis: ''Bill Joy is a great software architect, but he's not a scientist"…) CP: This piece is more accurate than many that have appeared in publications which are supposedly more technical. Kudos to writer Kevin Maney.

from the not-just-a-comment,-it's-a-commentary dept.
Tom McKendree writes, "Pat Gratton's idea of a third moral syndrome, Idealist, to complement the Commercial and Guardian syndromes described in Jane Jacob's Systems of Survival, is sufficiently compelling to deserve further exploration. (For more discussion of this concept, see the original story on nanodot).

I've tried to compare the three syndromes, matching characteristics where I could, and guessing characteristics where there seemed to be holes. From this exercise, I would guess that the Idealist Moral Syndrome also says 'Respect truth,' 'Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens for the sake of the task,' and 'Treasure standing in the subject area community.'"

Click Read More… to view Tom's table summarizing the comparison.

from the on-top-of-spaghetti dept.
Bryan Hall writes "New Scientist reports in a recent aricle that Meatball shaped molecules studded with molecular bait could mop up viruses before they get a chance to attack cells. Such "nanodecoys" could filter out biological weapons in gas masks or even intercept viral invaders when injected into people.

To infect cells, viruses must first attach to their surfaces by targeting specific receptor molecules. So if you create decoys laden with these receptors, you could mop up viruses – and some bacteria – before they reach cells.

from the nanobusiness-in-the-news dept.
Foresight advisor and Zyvex researcher Ralph Merkle points out an Oct 5 column on nanotechnology on the site of business magazine Red Herring: For decades, skeptics have dismissed molecular nanotechnology as the dream of crackpots, fools, and technology visionaries. The skeptics were wrong…in the last two years, there have been new discoveries that may revolutionize the fields of medicine, microprocessors, and synthetic materials. Discoveries such as Northwestern University's new nanolithography techniques used for designing transistors smaller than a molecule, Cornell University's work on how to turn a living cell into a motor, or NASA's progress on the development of carbon nanotubes — super-strong, lightweight materials for use in future spacecraft. Nanotechnology, it seems, is progressing from the science fiction of books like Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age to science fact. Most of the piece is on the company Zyvex, which is working on both bottom-up and top-down approaches.

from the 18-pages-and-growing dept.
The Oct 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News has a large (about 18 pages) special report on nanotechnology . Unfortunately, the web pages are password-protected. Research ("Building from the bottom up"), instrumentation, business ("Firms find a new field of dreams"), and government are covered. From the first, an excerpt: In any case, [Feynman Prize winner Nadrian] Seeman says, his primary goal is not computation per se but algorithmic assembly–using DNA to make novel and potentially useful nanostructures. Nanostructures, after all, are the key to nanotechnology, whether they are designed to perform lightning-fast calculations, detect molecules in the environment, eliminate pathogens from the body, or improve the properties of a material." Amusingly, one researcher is quoted as blaming the medical nanobot concept for getting the field "off to such a bad start"; this same concept inspires the new NASA/NCI/Caltech project. If someone has time to type in more quotes, we'll post them.

from the why-did-this-take-so-long dept.
Bryan Hall brings to our attention an article at National Geographic News on the molecular motor found inside the cell's nucleus: Scientists have long pondered how, inside the nucleus of a cell, long stretches of DNA are moved through the huge enzyme factories that transcribe DNA's genetic information into messages made of RNA. Now, for the first time, a team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago has demonstrated the presence of a "molecular motor" inside the nucleus, where it appears to be powering the assembly line that forges RNA messages off of the long DNA templates. The finding is reported in the Oct. 13 issue of the journal Science…Despite the fact that transcribing DNA is itself prodigious work, many scientists did not believe that myosin existed in the nucleus — indeed, no motor molecule had ever been found there. "We had an uphill battle to convince our colleagues," de Lanerolle said.

from the OK-so-it's-only-nano-in-one-dimension dept.
A press release announces: "Lightyear Technologies Inc. announced today that it has made a major breakthrough in nanotechnology, the science of building products at a molecular level…the company is the first in the world capable of producing nanotechnology products in commercial quantities…The material, first developed at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, is just a single molecule thick, and is capable of building itself into many useful products…Lightyear so far is concentrating its efforts on energy and environmental uses…Lightyear is now concentrating on working with companies developing applications that could revolutionize water purification and energy storage, possibly making electric vehicles much more practical."

from the lack-of-agreement dept.
Ten thinkers argued on future technology last week at Carnegie-Mellon. Excerpts from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The result, says artificial intelligence expert Ray Kurzweil, will be "total immersion virtual reality," a system in which an individual can be mentally transported to another world, or another body, where he can experience imaginary adventures with every sense…The things that are most important to people — families, communities, schools, religion — are only modestly affected, if at all by computers, emphasized Gelertner…Some limits need to be placed on the information that individuals can access, [Joy] said…To prevent the potential apocalypse Joy fears, "you'd basically have to stop all technological development," [Kurzweil] said, and that would likely require militaristic state control.

from the relinquishment-regarded-as-harmful dept.
MIT computer scientist Michael Dertouzos responds to Bill Joy in Technology Review , on the call for relinquishment. Excerpts: I donít buy it…So limited is our ability to assess consequences that itís not even helped by hindsight: On balance, are cars a good or bad thing for society?…We are unable to judge whether something we invented more than 50 years ago is good or bad for us today. Yet Joy wants us to make these judgments prospectively, to determine which technologies we should forgo!…Just because chips and machines are getting faster doesnít mean theyíll get smarter, let alone lead to self-replication…Should we stop computer science and AI research in the belief that intelligent machines someday will reproduce themselves and surpass us? I say no. We should wait to find out whether the potential dangers are supported by more than our imagination…We shouldnít forget that what we do as human beings is part of nature.

from the there's-nothing-small-about-nanotechnology dept.
From a Cox News Service item, some excerpts: “There seems to be no limit to the possibilities of creating new things through nanotechnology,'' said Zhong Lin Wang, head of Georgia Tech's new Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Georgia Tech is among major institutions around the world that are banking much of their future on the new technology…Some leading researchers see the nano fields as ultimate solutions to mankind's age-old problems — disease, food shortages, lack of clean water and inadequate shelter. “Nanotechnology may offer the final answer for the sustainability of the world,'' said Mihail C. Roco, senior adviser on nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation. “We may be limited only by our ability to imagine.'' Read More for further excerpts.

from the but-can-they-do-laundry? dept.
Comments from Foresight chairman Eric Drexler on this MIT Press book by Peter Menzel & Faith D'Aluisio: "Robo sapiens is a fascinating, in-depth look at one of the most challenging engineering tasks ever attempted. The photos amaze, while the text gives the inside story of researchers bashing their heads up against boggling complexity. You pick up Robo sapiens for the great photos, and then get caught up reading the inside politics of the race to build humanlike machines. Don't be surprised by the coming era of robotics — read Robo sapiens and be ready." Read More for comments by Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Kurzweil. CP: For a hardcover book this beautiful, the price of $29.95 is a bargain.

from the UK-physicists-vs-US-chemists-duke-it-out dept.
In this corner, the journal Nanotechnology from the UK's venerable Institute of Physics. Longtime publisher of the papers from the Foresight conference series, this journal is now offering free online access until Dec. 22, to get you interested.
And in this corner, upstart monthly journal Nano Letters from the respected American Chemical Society "invites original reports of fundamental research in all branches of the theory and practice of nanoscience and nanotechnology." The online version "will publish articles on the Web constantly–weeks ahead of the print edition…" Their editor is chairing Biological Applications of Nanotechnology (or maybe of Nanochemistry, the webpage is unclear), modestly described as "the one nanoscience event you must attend in 2001".

from the top-down-bottom-up-whatever-works dept.
Senior Associate Brian Wang brings to our attention a press release from the University of Illinois at Chicago on work presented at the BioMEMs & Biomedical Nanotechnology World 2000 conference: "Another example of therapeutic BioMEMs that Desai will discuss are cell encapsulation devices with nanometer-sized pores that can protect implanted cells or components from large molecules like antibodies while allowing small molecules like hormones and nutrients to freely pass through. Such devices, which have long been dreamed of for implanting pancreatic islet cells in diabetic patients or neurosecretory cells in Parkinson's or Alzheimer's patients, are now being fabricated in Desai's laboratory by micro-machining silicon to create precisely controlled micro- and nano-architectures."